Gone Forever
by xxBurningxx
Summary: Sometimes, when he can't get her out of his thoughts, Lance takes a visit to Viridian Forest, his mind wondering where she could have possibly dissapeared to...And meanwhile, Yellow gets the vague sense that something is horribly wrong.
1. Act 1, Scene 1: Down on My Head

**Story Note: Grantedshipping (Lance/Yellow) - Don't like, don't read. Rated K+. This chapter is lightly inspired from the song Down on My Head by Yellowcard.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

**Gone Forever  
****Act 1, Scene 1: Down on My Head  
by. **_xxBurningxx_

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She walks through the forest where numerous trees loom over her and grip her in a warm and friendly embrace; she basks in the vegetation's warm gaze, as sunlight streams through little cracks and openings in the upper canopy of leaves. Yellow has never, not even once, found herself uncomfortable nestled in the thriving and lively caress of the forest. Sometimes not even her closest friends understand her emotions, but the trees are always willing to listen to her worries; they make for the greatest company, if anything.

The path that she takes to get to the river is the longest one, as well as the only route that no one but herself is aware of. And yet, the earth along this stretch of land is padded down flat, the grass and dirt permanently embedded deeper in the ground from years of other feet walking over it, and sometimes she wonders how two people managed to carve such an obvious yet secret road.

When she reaches her destination, the sun's rays beam down on her, washing over her skin. Yellow would stand in this position for the rest of her life if she could; if the opportunity were in her grasps, she would stay frozen in everlasting warmth, soaking in the forest's acceptance and beauty. And then reality lurks in the back of her thoughts, as it always does, reminding her that she has a life. That she really does have friends, and that on a second thought, she could never leave them behind even if she tried.

…Dread soaks up her thoughts; she really should be getting back to the city now.

Chuchu runs up to her and takes a seat in her lap, and Yellow can sense the cheery buzz reflecting off her thoughts. Just being in the forest makes the Pokemon happier, and Yellow can't disagree with her, and so she wipes off the previous gloomy atmosphere. Viridian radiates a clean and refreshing aura that can drag her, or anyone else for that matter, from the murkiest of moods.

And then there's the fact that Yellow never goes to wander the forest without the faintest hope that maybe, just maybe, he'll visit her. That perhaps she'd be able to catch a glimpse of his cloak, or a whisper of his voice. It sends a ripple of sadness through her chest when she thinks about how over time, these tiny details seem to run and escape her mind, leaving her to ponder whether or not her memory of him is correct.

Her heart aches even further when her fiancée crosses her mind

Red.

He's probably wondering where she is.

She attempted to love him; she put her greatest effort forth to be a good girlfriend, and yet no matter how hard she tried, she, simply put, could not. She can't remember when it clicked; when she realized that as long as she continued her visits to Viridian Forest, her heart would never be free. And of all the emotions that Yellow felt, it was something close to guilt, with maybe a pinch of pity too.

Guilt because she took having such a caring and kind partner for granted. She can even see it in her head, like a scene taken straight from a cinematic movie; her life with Red could be fantastic, and what they shared could have led to an amazing future. She felt guilty because she was robbing Red of these things, and she pitied him because he got stuck with her in the first place.

The wind whistled, rushing by and ruffling her hair. She perks her ears up, straining to catch a hint of what she so badly wants to hear, but in a moment the gust has passed without a trace of his voice. She sighs in frustration and aimlessly kicks her feet about. For the rest of the day she lazily strolls around without reason, merely enjoying the soft spring weather, her ears remaining alert during each breeze of wind carried out through the trees.

Chuchu watches her sadly with skeptic eyes, just as she does every time Yellow walks here. She is aware that her beloved Pikachu knows what she's up to; what she's been seeking for far too long. And she would offer an explanation, if only she could discover one that existed. And it isn't just her Pokemon that have noticed the difference in her actions.

Sometimes the forest itself murmurs little nothings spoken via nature, as if it knows something is off. It warily greets its visitors, and after the years, Yellow has noted that the tone says something like, "Don't bother; give up."

She can't even define what this is herself. It feels like a secret the forest is keeping from her and she yearns to know what it is; she can't find an answer.

It's been almost seven years since that fateful battle on Cerise Island, and yet she can still remember it as if it were yesterday…He had been so dead-set on killing her…Every now and then she wonders if that really was his true intention. She had seen the pain in his eyes, the eroded leftovers of a beaten down soul.

Her thoughts race in an endless stream.

Yellow wonders if perha—her thoughts are cut off by yet another sudden sweeping gust of wind. It rattles her to her core, and she can't place a finger on why a shiver runs down the length of her spine, leading to an array of goose-bumps forming on her arms.

"Why did you go?"

Yellow jumps, startled, and then spins on her heels. She glances in every direction around her, but to no avail; she's greeted with nothing except for more breezes and the low rushing water of the river. She pushes those aimless noises out and to the bottom of her consciousness. She would recognize that voice anywhere and anytime, even if she hadn't heard it for years. Frozen in her steps, she waits, listens with an intense focus. She's afraid that if she moves even an inch or muscle, she'll lose this rare moment.

Her heart is pounding so loud she can hear it thumping in her ears, and adrenaline rushes through her veins.

"I know you're here…I can…Feel it."  
Barely a whisper.

Yellow whips around, pinpointing the source of his voice. Suddenly he's there, right in plain and painfully visible sight, sitting on the rock she had been on only minutes ago. He looks the same as when she last remembered seeing him; same black cloak, red hair…Those same golden eyes…The only thing missing was his signature smirk; now, an expression that features a mixture of confusion and emptiness replaces the old cocky aura.

He's staring at her.

"L-lance?" she stutters, her breath catching in her throat. She takes a step towards him, restraining the urge to run to him eagerly and embrace him.

"You're so close…I don't understand, dammit," he growls, racking his head in frustration. His gaze is lingering right on her, and yet he doesn't seem to notice that she's standing in front of him. Yellow, apparently, hasn't caught on yet.

"Lance! What are you doing here? Lance?" she asks, taking another step closer, and then another.

And yet, he still doesn't respond to her and only stands up with a sigh.

She approaches him and extends her arm out to touch him, and just as her hand is about to reach him, she trips and her feet. The next following moments play in slow motion.

Instead of being greeted with his physical body, she simply slips through him, landing on the rock with a dumbfounded expression. Lance goes rigid at the exact moment she passes through him, and after a moment's hesitation, he looks behind him, directly at her once again, staring directly into her eyes. She doesn't know what's going on, but she stares back right into his eyes, desperation gripping at her entire being.

He looks at the rock almost as if in a trance for a long time. He obviously can't see her, and her mind is in a fixed state of panic but no matter how hard she tries, she can't move. It's a while before he turns around again, and in that moment, something inside of her snaps.

"Lance!" she yelps, jumping up from the rock. He doesn't hear her. "Lance, why can't you see me? What's going on? Lance!"

He keeps walking.

"Lance! _Lance!_" she screams, terror's cold hand gripping her heart. "_LANCE!_"

He hesitates; freezes in his tracks. He takes a glance over his shoulder and mumbles something. "…Yellow…"

A painful molecule of hope pinches her soul, but then he shakes his head and walks off.

She watches in silence as he departs, and a dark, numb feeling of emptiness settles over her head. Yellow has not even the slightest clue as to what is going on. And so she leans back without aim, slowly plopping down on the rock that's so close to the river, the nature sounds filling her ears…

…and after a few moments, she can feel tears running down her cheeks.

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**A/N: Hi~ I've decided that it's time for a Grantedshipping story, and not only that, a multi-chapter story. If you've read my stuff before, you'll know that I fail horrible with multi-chaps...But this one's only gonna be three - four chapters, so hopefully I'll get it done. I already have the next part of the story planned out in my head, but feel free to throw in any ideas.**

**Also: This may or may not get a happy ending. I'm not sure yet.**

**Anyways. Reviews are greatly appreciated and provide for inspiration.**

**Edit: I went through and edited this, since I caught tons of painful little typos. Hopefully it's better now!**

**Thank you for your time and reading, sincerly,**

**~Burning**


	2. Act 1, Scene 2: This Ship's Going Down

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. **

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**Gone Forever  
Act 1, Scene 2: This Ship's Going Down  
by. **_xxBurningxx_

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Yellow isn't sure how long she sits on that rock, her mind lost in an everlasting trance. She stares into the distance, not actually perceiving the nature around her, but rather lost in her racing tangle of thoughts and trying to figure out the situation at hand. The tears that she shed have long since stopped flowing, yet their existence remains traceable by the dried remains on her cheeks.

She has yet to decipher the events that took place earlier that day, and the mystery rattles in her head, shaking her to the core. Yellow isn't sure whether she wants to curl up in a ball and cry about it even more, or to take action.

And a wave of shame settles over her too, because she can't deny that she felt a shocking jolt of adrenaline, thrill, and most of all, _happiness_, after seeing Lance for the first time in years. Now that she's calmed down, his voice, eyes, scent; everything reverberates with a lasting memory in her head, and she can't shake him from her thoughts.

All of these things, Lance and the weird stuff going on, every bit of it swirling about in her mind is making her nauseated, and she feels like she's going to hurl. She pinches the bridge of her nose; she can feel the early signs of a headache coming on as well.

The forest swirls around her, and the trees that once loomed over her cheerily now seem to taunt her. She tries to stand up, to shake off this bout of messed-up senses, but suddenly the ground doesn't seem to want to stay put below her feet where it should be and her balance goes down the drain. In a blink of the eye, she finds herself on her knees, vision greeted with the green grass underneath her.

There's a searing pain in the middle of her palm as if there's a fiery inferno in her hand, spreading up her arm and sending her into a state where she tries to scream but nothing comes out except a dry croak, and—_oh gods she just wants it to stop._

And it does.

Suddenly the world is back to normal, no longer sweeping past her senses. Her vision blurs for a moment, and then refocuses and she can stand up without a problem. Yellow shakes her head, and her entire body is in a cold sweat except for the warm tingle left behind in her palm.

She desperately needs to clear her mind, and so she walks. She needs to get back to Viridian City and see how Red is doing. There's a part of her that wants, _needs_, to make sure that he can still see her; this entire stream of odd events has her shivering with what almost resembles some kind of fear. Not the same fear from when Lance first appeared; no, a sort of ominous haze in he back of her head.  
Dread.

Besides, how long has it been since she left the city? Only a few hours, if she remembers correctly…and yet at the same time, she gets a vague feeling like that isn't quite right. She walks down the path that she always takes to get back to the town, and then she quickens her pace. And then a little more.

It isn't long until she breaks out into a full-out run, because, for reasons she can't place a finger on, a horrible sense of urgency surrounds her. Suddenly, getting home to her friends is the most important thing that she's ever needed to do. She has to see them, and they need to see her.

Just as she comes to the turn that should dissolve into a clearing leading to the city, she slows down and finds herself greeted with only more forest scenery. Her internal senses know that she should be in Viridian by now, because she's only walked this trail a thousand times, so why hasn't she reached the town yet? She brushes it off. Keep walking, it'll show up sooner or later. It has to.

She really begins to panic when she comes across the river, right in front of her. The rock she had been sitting on; the same place where Lance had been unable to see her. She stares for a few moments in that trance that had overtaken her before, now with a thundering fear because she realizes that she's back where she started. Yellow is doubting herself now.

…Just how long has it been since she left town to come to this forest…?

Okay, maybe not hours…But surely no more than a day, right? She shakes her head, hoping that maybe, just maybe, this is all just some strange dream that her brain concocted because she didn't go to bed early enough. Hopefully her eyes will snap open in just a few short moments, and everything will be all right. Red will be lying asleep peacefully besides her, and nothing will be wrong.

She pinches her arm, splashes river-water on her face, tries tons of things in a vain attempt to awake herself. Chuchu runs up to her, after not being present for so long, and eyes Yellow sadly, as if she knew she would figure it out sooner or later.

Something is horribly wrong.

And she doesn't even notice when a small murmur escapes past her lips.

"…Lance, save me…"

* * *

"Clair…" he says warily, with the slightest trace of annoyance because he can tell by the expression on her face that she thinks he's full of it. And who knows? Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't.

"Look, I can't believe you're still going on about that. Will you please just let it go?" Claire asks him with exasperation lingering in her tone. "Besides, she didn't do anything except for get in your way! She ruined your plans! Tell me this: why bother?"

Lance opens his mouth to answer with a semi-sarcastic response, but then closes it again because he realizes something; he _doesn't _have an answer. He doesn't know what he wants, and it would seem that no one, not even the person he's closest to, understands how he feels.

About seven years ago, he received word that she'd disappeared, without any trace or warning. At first, when Clair had informed him, he'd shrugged it off. Like she said, why should he care? He doesn't, that's the thing. But the more and more time that slipped by, the more he began thinking. Each year he takes a visit to Viridian Forest, just for old times' sake, and each time he picks up a lingering sense of…her.

Lance can't explain it properly, despite his best efforts. When he's in that forest, her aura is there. He even went to the lengths to drag Clair along with him once, and she merely stated that it was just your average forest atmosphere.

And the other day, he heard her voice. Just a whisper, a ghost in the wind, but he heard it nonetheless. Call him crazy, but he felt her energy, carried in the wind and all around him yet he couldn't see her. He spent countless moments trying to explain the events to his cousin, but at some point she'd became stubborn and reluctant to believe anything that he said.

So when she gives him an almost pitying look, he leaves, because if there's one thing he can't stand, it's the expression of pity. It makes him sick to his stomach because it represents weakness and submission and that just isn't how Lance does things. It's the reason why, so long ago during the battle at Cerise Island, he refused to listen to Yellow's reasoning.

Later, in frustration aimed at his cousin, Lance scribbles an angry stream of words with a pen onto paper and once he's done, he goes and slips it under her door in the safety of the night.

* * *

_Clair,_

_I think I might be taking another trip to Kanto. This time, it might be a while before I come back. _

_Don't miss me,_

_L._

* * *

Somewhere, deep in the caverns of Mt. Moon, a man with one cerulean blue eye and one scarlet red one sits with his western-styled hat pulled down over his eyes. A grin splits across his face after he watches the scene play out before him in his high-tech glasses. So long; so long has he waiting for things to finally get interesting. Rick Cheshire had figured that someone would discover her a little sooner; a few years at most, but alas, he is a patient man.

He needs her blood. A ritual, thousands of years old and performed only three times in history, awaits him. Cheshire will be the first in decades to perform it, and his heart pounds in anticipation of the day he finally will get to carry out his dream. The only thing that delays his precious plan is the precise restrictions of the ritual.

_"-Will require the blood of a descendent of Viridian, harvested while the Subject is rich with pure love-"_

When he targeted Yellow after much observation, he had believed that Red was her lover, and such would be sufficient. It was not. Cheshire huddles in his little fort of boulders, out of view of the young and arrogant trainers in the cave. He ponders over the words listed in the scroll, and what it means now that this so called Lance has come into the picture.

_"-If love is not present when the Subject is moved to Viridian purposefully, they will spend eternity there until a proper suitor arrives, regardless what the Performer wants. For the time until a suitor arrives, the Subject will carry on as though nothing is disturbed. This will not affect the real world, however-"_

This is good. Rick Cheshire will just sit back and wait, and when the spell restraining Yellow to the forest is lifted, he'll snag both of them. He will make use of both the girl and the dragon-boy, because what can more blood do except make the ritual more successful?

His grin spreads even further across his face.

Yes. Yes, this will do just fine.

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**A/N: Okay. I'll elaborate: Yellow is trapped in Viridian because of a ritual my OC, Rick Cheshire, would like to perform. As explained, such a ritual will require the blood of someone from Viridian (and has its powers) but they must be in love at the time as well. Since Yellow isn't truly in love with Red, the spell was naturally cast on Yellow against Rick's will, and so she's stuck there. But Lance is here, so yay! This pleases Rick because now he can finally look forward to performing the ritual (will be a major plot point). Don't worry, we'll hear more about this so-called ritual and Rick Cheshires back-story later on, but for now we're going to focus on Lance (unknowingly) breaking the spell. It'll sorta work like, Yellow has a crush on Lance but doesn't know it, and the same goes for Lance.**

**The italics were direct quotes from the rituals written instructions; Subject = Yellow. Performer = Rick. **

**Long A/N is long. Okie, I hope you guys enjoyed that! (Sorry for the super long wait!).  
**

**Edit: Same as C1, I edited this up and fixed the little errors.**


	3. Act 1, Scene 3: Crawl

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

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**Gone Forever**  
**Act 1, Scene 3: Crawl**  
**by.**_ xxBurningxx_

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Lance arrives in Viridian after a long boat ride, then followed by a slightly swifter flight with his faithful Dragonite. The sun is sinking below the horizon when he lands on the outskirts of the forest, and he makes his way closer to the city. It's been so long since the incident ay Cerise that he doesn't think anyone will recognize him, but he keeps his head down anyways because he knows that being seen will only cause more trouble.

He finds the nearest hotel and rents a room so that he has somewhere to stay during his visit. Lance hopes that he won't be in Viridian, or Kanto in general for that matter, for more than a month. But then again, he doesn't know what to expect, an he's already told himself that he'll stay as long as it takes to get to the bottom of Yellow's mysterious disappearance.

When he arrives to his room, he swipes the little key card at the door and enters. He is greeted with the smell of fresh linen and the inside is clean and organized. He's grateful; Lance could attest to sleeping in much worse conditions. He sets his single duffel bag next to the nightstand and stretches. The ship over to Kanto had been filled with obnoxious young trainers who had literally harassed him to battle, and even though he declined the majority of them, he's still exhausted from the entire trip.

He falls back onto the bed, not even bothering to change, and slips into unconsciousness within no time.

* * *

Yellow walks along the riverbed, thinking about everything that has happened. The crystal clear water shines up at her and flows endlessly as though nothing were amiss. Her eyes sting from crying, but that's the least of her concerns because as she looks at the river, she gasps.

Really, how long has she been in the forest? The water ripples here and there, marring the image, but she can still make out the trace of herself in it. The face staring back at her is not the one she remembers seeing a few days earlier. It is narrower, older. It, like all the previous events, scares her. She knows that something is wrong and more puzzle pieces are coming into play, but it seems that none of them fit together. That spot in the center of her palm tingles again, sending little sparks of alarm to her head along with a faint sense of dread.

Things just keep getting more and more confusing, and her thoughts are even more jumbled and haphazard. She can't keep a constant stream of thinking, everything running together in a single pool of nothing. It all seems hazy inside her head.

So she keeps walking.

Chuchu follows close behind with an expression of concern, but Yellow never notices.

But what she does observe is that the scenery is a loop. Sticking to the river and never straying from its path, the same trees continuously fall behind her, only to reappear soon thereafter. She passes the soon-to-be infamous rock numerous times. The strange thing is the fact that this doesn't seem to bother her quite as much as it probably should. Perhaps she is coming to terms with whatever it is that's happening. Or maybe she's finally reached that numb part of her soul, the eye if the storm, that can't find the will to care.

The weather gets restless too, the tree branches swaying in the gusts of wind and hissing in protest. The grass is relenting to the force of the air too and the river almost seems to flow faster with urgency. Yellow remains unaware of all of this however, because she simply isn't paying attention.

Her feet begin to start hurting, and her palm grows warmer and warmer.

She doesn't notice.

Yellow keeps walking.

* * *

The next morning the sun peeks through Lance's window, shining intrusively on his face and rousing his from his dream. For almost all his life, Lance's visions during the night were forgotten upon awakening. This one strikes him as particularly strange because of this reason, and for the first time he clearly remembers all the small details of it.

_-wind-_

He sits up, running a hand through his already messy hair.

_-the sound of water rushing-_

He stands up and stretches his arms.

_-all around, unable to breathe-_

Lance shakes his head. There's a part of his mind that accuses him of being stupid for even thinking it, but for a second he believes that the dream must be related to Yellow in some way. It's ridiculous, but no other explanations cross his mind. He sighs. The idea that she is in the forest encourages him to get up, even though he doesn't know why.

He tells himself that he simply wants to figure out what happened to satisfy his burning curiosity, and then he'll be on his way.

Lance keeps telling himself this over and over again, all the way out the hotel door and on his way to the forest.

* * *

When he enters the forest, the trees greet him cheerily. He doesn't have a specific plan in mind, which, looking at with a reasoning perspective, is quite stupid. The grass bends beneath his feet, and he takes the same path that he's taken each time he comes here. Looking closely, he can make out the faint outlines of past footprints, and out of sheer boredom and for the hell of it, he tries to walk in them, matching his feet up with the little indentations in the earth.

He soon arrives at the clearing, the river rustling loudly before him. It's the exact same place where swore he sensed Yellow just a few days ago. Everything seems the same as before.

Lance shakes his head. It was silly of him to come. Why would a girl who's been missing for years be in the forest? It's a stupid idea. But even as he tells himself this, he knows why. Because of the bond they share regarding the forest itself; the powers they posses that connects them to the earth here.

He approaches the rock where he had been recently and stands still.

Lance closes his eyes.

And listens.

* * *

Yellow looks at the water. It doesn't look very deep, no more than a few feet, and the rocks at the bottom sparkle up at her. She isn't really sure what she's doing because she doesn't _know _what she _should _be doing. There's nothing, not a trace of an idea for her next plan of action.

Looks are deceiving because the river is most certainly deeper than a few feet.

A gust of wind uses its large hands to scoop Yellow up, pushing her over the edge of the river's edge. She gasps, tossing her arms back in a spontaneous attempt to regain her balance, but she only proceeds to topple forwards. The water engulfs her, sucking at her clothes and pulling her down. It is shockingly cold and she can feel the warmth from her body being drained from her the instant her body is submerged.

She tries to scream for help, but all that escapes is a shrill and mangled cry before her head goes under again. Her vision blurs. Adrenaline surges through her, all the while panic tosses its arms around her and holds on tightly. She can't breathe, her lungs being separated from the oxygen they so desperately need to keep her alive.

Then something grabs her wrist, and the world goes black.

* * *

Lance pulls the figure up out of the river. Without even seeing her face, he knows that it is her. The moment that she's no longer in danger, a searing pain flares in his palm and his vision goes white. He falls backwards, gritting his teeth and holding his hand, desperately willing it to stop. He closes his eyes and slowly, all too slowly, the fire in his hand eases down.

In the background, he vaguely makes out the sound of Yellow coughing.

Cautiously, he stands up and stares at her as thinks start to sink in his head, settling like sand on the ocean floor. Suddenly his head is a flurry of thoughts. He blinks his eyes, rubbing them a little just to be sure. Maybe he's crazy. But no, he physical felt her arm as he pulled her up from the river. "H-how..." Lance stammers, unconsciously backing away a little.

Still on the ground and coughing slightly, Yellow looks up at him, and there are tears in her eyes, or maybe it's just water from the river; he can't tell. A series of expressions grace her face in that moment, so many that he only catches a few of them. Shock, confusion, disbelief.

"L-Lance?" Yellow asks incredulously. She tries to stand, but the instant that she's on her feet, she stumbles, almost falling again. He quickly jumps forward, catching her arm to steady her.

Somewhere in the back of his head, a part of him is relieved to see her. He doesn't admit it to himself, and probably never will, but he's glad that she isn't dead like most people seemed to have assumed over the years. She coughs more, the looks at him with those striking emerald eyes. They're still the same ones that had stared at him with so much determination at Cerise.

Suddenly a pair of water-drenched arms are wrapped around him. "Lance! Y-you have no idea h-"

He quickly pushes her off of him. Just because he saved her at that moment and they weren't necessarily enemies anymore, that didn't mean that they were best buddies all of the sudden. Yellow stumbles back, a quick flash of hurt on her face, but it's quickly replaced with relief. She's too happy he's even there to be upset.

Lance folds his arms.

"You have some explaining to do.**"**

* * *

**A/N: I don't think hotels exist in Viridian. But for the sake of the story, let's pretend that they do. So, did the constant POV switches bother you? Sorry. But hey, be grateful. You got an update. I know this chapter is crap. Lance is here though! I start highschool tomorrow and I think my nerves are reflecting in my writing. I apologize for the obvious OOC-ness. Expect it to be a while before more updates (because of school). Well, reviews inspire me to update, so, let me know how bad I did!  
**


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